''Black Moon'' is the eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, and the first in fourteen years, by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

band

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...

, released on 27 June 1992. The band had broken up in 1979, and recorded ''Black Moon'' to kick off their 1990s revival.

Production

The track "Affairs of the Heart" originated in summer 1988 sessions by Lake with

Geoff Downes Geoffrey Downes (born 25 August 1952) is an English keyboardist who gained fame as a member of the new wave group The Buggles with Trevor Horn, the progressive rock band Yes, and the supergroup Asia. Born in Stockport, Downes moved to Lon ...

under the project name Ride the Tiger. Another song from the sessions, "Money Talks", became "Paper Blood" with a different chorus and new music. Ride the Tiger was finally released in 2015.

Reception

''Black Moon'' received mixed reviews. Jim Allen of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

wrote in a retrospective review that the performers "stripped down their sound and amped up their attack." In his book ''The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock'', Paul Stump compared it favorably to its contemporary '' Union'' (by fellow progressive rock giants

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...

). He explained that ''Black Moon'' "did at least aspire to interest and ''excite'' the listener, and it would be a churlish mind that overlooked a vigour in the playing which had formerly been notable by its absence. The material, though, suffered from the Yes malaise: cynicism and over-exposure to the wallet-fattening blandishments of easy-out FM mores, intervals and development procedures had blunted edges and dulled nerve-endings both of players and listeners." Half of the album's songs were played at the band's 1992-1993 concerts. Greg Lake also used to play "Paper Blood", "Farewell to Arms" and "Footprints in the Snow" at his solo performances in 2005. Notably, "Farewell to Arms" was played at the group's final concert, at the

High Voltage Festival High Voltage was a music festival, held twice in Victoria Park, London. The event hosted artists from various strands of rock music, including classic rock, progressive rock, and heavy metal. The first festival was held on 24 and 25 July 2010. Th ...

in July 2010.

Track listing

2017 Deluxe Edition

Personnel

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He becam ...

Yamaha GX-1 The Yamaha GX-1, first released as Electone GX-707, is an analog polyphonic synthesizer organ developed by Yamaha as a test bed for later consumer synths and Electone series organs for stage and home use. The GX-1 has four synthesizer "ranks" or ...

Steinway Grand Piano Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of ...

, Modular Moog, Minimoog *

Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). Born and ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

(on "Paper Blood") *

Carl Palmer Carl Frederick Kendall Palmer (born 20 March 1950) is an English drummer best known as founding member and the last surviving member of the progressive rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He was also a founding member of progressive rock s ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Production

*Producer: Mark Mancina *Engineers: Steve Kempster,

Stephen Marcussen Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California, United States. He has been mastering music since 1979. Biography Marcussen's introduction to music recording happened in 1976 when, at ...

, David Mitchell *Assistant engineers: Anthony Danbury, Gil Morales, Marnie Riley, Brett Swain, Charlie Watts *Mixing: Steve Kempster, David Mitchell *Mastering:

*Digital editing: Jay Rifkin *Programming: Tim Heintz, Gary Hodgson, Ian Morrow,

John Van Tongeren John Warrington Van Tongeren is an American keyboardist and composer for films and television. Biography Van Tongeren's career in the entertainment business began as a keyboardist, with one of his earliest projects being the band Q, featur ...

*Keyboard technician: Willie Alexander *Vocal arrangement: Mark Holding

Charts

Singles

* Black Moon ingle Version/ A Blade Of Grass / Black Moon lbum Version* Affairs Of The Heart / Better Days / A Blade Of Grass / Black Moon adio Version* Affairs Of The Heart / Black Moon adio Version/ Fanfare For The Common Man pecial edit/ Jerusalem

References

{{Authority control Emerson, Lake & Palmer albums 1992 albums Albums produced by Mark Mancina